North Korea's state media ditches censorship in favor of celebrating a huge propaganda win

North Korean state media broke form and featured photos
of leader Kim Jong Un walking around Singapore and meeting with
President Donald Trump in their latest editions.

North Korea typically heavily censors its content,
indicating Kim's trip abroad and meeting with Trump was a huge
propaganda win.

The papers seem to reflect North Korea's desire to
portray itself as a legitimate player on the global
stage.

North Korean state media broke form and has run two days of
stories on Kim Jong Un's trip to Singapore, including a huge
spread on his meeting with President Donald Trump.

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Only hours after Kim made a surprise appearance visiting
popular tourist attractions in Singapore on Tuesday night,
and posing for what is believed to be
Kim's first public selfie, North Korea's Rodong Sinmun
newspaper splashed 14 photos of the reclusive leader's travels
across its front page.

North Korea typically heavily censors its local and foreign
content, with events often not being reported until several days
after, if at all.

The decision to publish extensive coverage of the summit seems to
reflect North Korea's desire to portray itself to citizens as a
player on the global stage, and is considered by some to be a
propaganda coup.

"As expected, coverage of Kim summit with Donald Trump is
plastered across first four pages of North Korea's main Rodong
Sinmun. Triumphant moment for Kim and North Korea that will
become fodder for art, posters, stamps," tweeted
Jean H. Lee, director of the Korea Center at the Wilson Center.

Still, strict media censorship remains in place and the country
remains cautious of how its leader is portrayed. Euan Graham,
International Security Director at the Lowy Institute, previously
told Business Insider that North Korean media "will cut and
splice to show Kim in the most favorable light."

The government tightly controls the flow of information from
inside and outside the country, and defectors have detailed how
citizens are often punished for consuming foreign media. Images
of foreign countries, like the sprawling and well-lit Singapore
skyline, are usually excluded from broadcasts in an attempt to
hide outside information that may
encourage citizens to defect.

The country was
completely in the dark during Kim's April meeting with South
Korean President Moon Jae-in. The only summit-related
coverage was
reports that Kim had tarveled to Panmunjom in
the DMZ. Major events, like the 2018 Olympics in
which North Korea sent a delegation of athletes, cheerleaders,
and high-ranking officials, also faced
near complete media censorship.

But Wednesday's issue did provide some clues to North Korea
watchers about how Kim is portraying the summit back home. Rodong
Sinmun detailed how sanctions "could
be lifted" and that talk of denuclearization was hardly
mentioned.